Thursday, March 31, 2011

With the return of warmer weather, the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) Residential Road Rehabilitation program has resumed in the Forest Glen community.

In response to the County Executive ’s call for a more systematic approach to maintaining the County’s transportation infrastructure, MCDOT responded by rating the condition of every County road. Under this program, Forest Glen had many streets rated very poor. This project, which involves reconstructing 16 lane miles of roads, sidewalks and curbs, was begun last year and should be completed this fall.

MCDOT will not widen or alter the character of the streets in Forest Glen. Typical steps include developing a tree protection plan; identifying curbs and sidewalks needing repair, then reconstructing them; replacing driveway aprons for residents who opt into this program; making extensive pavement repairs; milling the road surface; and finally resurfacing the streets with hot mix asphalt.

Damascus

MCDOT is also resuming its pavement preservation program, which is temperature dependent. Resurfacing roads with hot mix asphalt is one of the long-term strategies the County is using to preserve and enhance transportation infrastructure.

Paving of streets in the Plantations subdivision in Damascus began this month and is expected to be completed in three to four weeks, weather permitting. The work consists of the following steps:

Full depth patching removes and replaces distressed pavement areas to restore the pavement’s structural integrity and ability to support vehicle loads.

Edge and full-width pavement milling removes the entire surface of the roadway to a depth of one to two inches.

Utility adjustments to bring storm drain and sewer manhole covers and valves to the same grade as the renewed pavement.